One Room Challenge Week 5 – The Floor
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It is Week 5 of my dining room makeover for the Fall One Room Challenge. This week went by smoothly, despite the everything going on the news, which is still a surprise to me. As I mentioned in my update post last week, this week my focus was on the dining room floors. Initially, I only intended to refresh the white grout on the tiles but after my accent wall plans fell apart last week and I ended up painting the door, I decided the floors needed much more than just some re-grouting.
I have hardwood floors throughout the rest of my home, so I wanted my dining room floors to complement the natural finished hardwood as best as I could. Since my budget for this renovation was tight, I knew pulling up the tiles and installing new hardwood floors would be waaaayyyyy out of the budget. Instead I decided to focus on peel and stick or floating vinyl plank flooring. Both are affordable, relatively simple to install and can be installed over existing flooring. They also come in a variety of options from natural hardwood, granite and marble. In the end, I decided to go with the peel and stick vinyl plank flooring.
Peel-and-stick flooring is a low-maintenance type of vinyl flooring which bonds directly to a building’s subfloor. It can be applied over existing concrete, plywood, tile or vinyl flooring. Many peel-and-stick flooring panels have a natural wood-look finish and texture and costs significantly less than installing hardwood floors.
These are the floors I used. I used one and a half boxes and took about 2 hours to complete installation. Check out the finished floors below and the steps I followed to install them.
1. Fix Sagging Door
The door leading into the room has been sagging for some time and dragging on the tile floors. After painting the door last week, I ended up taking the door off the hinge and repositioning the door a little higher. This house is quite old and as you can imagine, has settled overtime which can cause the alignment of the door to shift. After repositioning the door, and using longer screws to attached the hinges, the door is now perfectly horizontal and swings open easily.
2. Prepare Subfloor.
To obtain proper adhesion of flooring to the subfloor, subfloor must be free of all dirt, dust or stains. There were a few places where the tiles were either cracked or slightly lifting off the floor. I repaired the tiles using Fix-A-Floor adhesion. Overall, my tile floor was in good shape, so I did not need to remove tiles.
I thoroughly clean the floors with a broom and vacuum to get rid of all dust and dirt, then with a Swiffer and cleaning detergent to get rid of any stains. There was an area where I spilled paint while painting the walls, so I used a putty knife to scrape the dried paint of the tiles then Swiffer-ed once again.
3. Install Floors
Mark the center of each wall and draw a chalk line between them. I was able to use the grout of my tile as a chalk line since they were pretty much centered with my room. Starting along the long side of the room, lay the first row of flooring along the chalk line, starting at one wall and working across the floor.
Be sure to leave a ¼ inch gap along the walls around the outside edge of the room to account for the expansion of the vinyl with the changing weather. The gap will be covered with your baseboards after installation is complete.
Look for the manufacturer’s directional arrow on the protective paper attached to the peel-and-stick floor plank. Keep the arrows facing the same direction when applying the vinyl plank to the subfloor. Theses arrows are a helpful guide to obtain a cohesive pattern.
Once the first row is complete, press the vinyl planks firmly into the subfloor, avoiding any gabs between the planks. I used a rolling pin to press out any air below the planks and firmly press plank into floor.
To start your second row, start with the leftover piece of plank from the end of the pervious row. This will give a more natural staggered look, instead of all the planks lined up side by side. Continue with your second row, firmly pressing the planks into the subfloor and also as close to the previous row to prevent any gaps. Continue in this manner until the room is complete.
Be sure to check the installation instructions for any product specific directions not included here.
Progress Report
Here is last week’s progress report:
Install New Vinyl Plank Floors
Finish Installing Baseboards
Refinish Dining Chairs
Plans for Window Treatment
Other Storage Solutions
Next Steps
This week is the last week of the One Room Challenge. I will be focusing on the final details, which included all the items left on last week’s Progress Report that I did not complete and finally updating the lighting. Come back next week to check out the final reveal. I’m excited to share how everything is coming together. In the meantime, check out what the featured designers and other guest participants are working on over at the ORC.